1787 in the United States

1787 in the United States
Decades:	1760s 1770s – 1780s – 1790s 1800s
Years:	1784 1785 1786 – 1787 – 1788 1789 1790
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13 stars, the Betsy Ross version (1777 – 1795)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1776–1789)

Events from the year 1787 in the United States.

Incumbents

• Second Continental Congress
• Governor of Delaware - Thomas Collins
• Governor of New Jersey - William Livingston
• Governor of Pennsylvania - Benjamin Franklin

Events

January–March

• January 6 – The North Carolina General Assembly authorizes nine commissioners to purchase 100 acres (0.40 km²) of land for the county seat of Chatham County. The town is named Pittsborough (later shortened to Pittsboro) for William Pitt the Younger.
• February 28 – A charter is granted establishing the institution known today as the University of Pittsburgh.

April–June

• May 14 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin arriving to write a new Constitution for the United States.
• May 25 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin to convene a Constitutional Convention intended to amend the Articles of Confederation. However, a new Constitution for the United States is eventually produced. George Washington presides over the Convention.
• June 6 – Franklin College, named for Benjamin Franklin, opens in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It later merges with Marshall College to become Franklin and Marshall College.
• June 20 – Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention that the government be called the United States.

July–September

• July 13 – The U.S. Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.
• August 27 – Launching a 45-foot (14 m) steam powered craft on the Delaware River, John Fitch demonstrates the first U.S. patent for his design.
• September 17 – The United States Constitution is adopted by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

October–December

• October 27 – The first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the U.S. Constitution, is published in a New York paper.
• December 7 – Delaware ratifies the Constitution and becomes the first U.S. state.
• December 8 – Mission La Purisima Concepcion is founded by Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, becoming the 11 mission in the California mission chain.
• December 12 – Pennsylvania becomes the second U.S. state.
• December 18 – New Jersey becomes the third U.S. state.

Undated

• The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates Waynesborough and designates it the county seat for Wayne County, North Carolina.

Ongoing

• Articles of Confederation in effect (1781–1788)
• Northwest Indian War (1785–1795)

Births

This section requires expansion.

• December 10 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Minister, educator, co-founder of the first permanent school for the Deaf in North America. (d.1851)

Deaths

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External links

• Media related to 1787 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons